Wednesday, April 01, 2015

Watching & Waiting, A Devotion for Holy Week

I had the opportunity to share this last evening at All Saint's Woodbridge...

From the time I was old enough to apprehend
the events surrounding the passion of our Lord, I was captivated and would try
to imagine what it would be like to be a face in the crowd as events
unfolded. This has only
intensified as I grew into adulthood.
Songs like “Were you there?” or “I only want to say” from Jesus Christ,
Superstar served to fuel these desires to have wanted to witness those
events. But for all these flights
of fancy, I learned a much more profitable way.

Rather than letting our imaginations run
free, chasing events and dramas of our own makings, we need not look further
than Holy Scripture in order to catch a glimpse of Christ’s passion and propitiatory death.St. Matthew’s
gospel narrative gives us a gripping account of that moment, as Jesus was about
to become the Lamb of God who took away the sins of the world.

In one such moment, we find our Lord and his
eleven remaining disciples at the gates of an olive grove on the eve of the
Passover.It had been a long day
that was punctuated by the Seder meal, which was full of carbohydrates and
wine.It was approaching midnight
when the band arrived, minus one disciple who departed to deliver his master
over to those who desired his death.It was here that Christ instructed eight members of the band to wait,
while he and three of his closest disciples walked deeper into the into the
grove.

With each step deeper into the olive grove,
the gravity of what would soon transpire began to crush the sacred heart that
bore no sin.Its fair to presume
that in his omniscience, Jesus was very likely seeing the next sixteen hours of
his life unfold.Scenes were
unfolding; the cohort that was converging on their location, the bitter cynical
kiss of the traitor, the lying testimonies of those who would come before the
Sanhedrin, and the crowds calling for his crucifixion.These alone were terrible but the
coming hours would hold an unimaginable terror for the Son of God.For all of eternity, Jesus knew the
sweet communion of being one with the Father.Yet soon, in a moment that would seem an eternity in itself,
that communion would be severed.

It was in this dark moment that he commanded
the three to wait and watch.These
words are somewhat defanged in our contemporary language.Yet for Peter, John & James, these
words had tremendous weight.

The three were commanded to remain and
wait.For most of us, the idea of
waiting can bring unpleasant thoughts to mind.Here in Northern Virginia, waiting can almost seem like a
curse.Daily, we wait in traffic.We wait in lines.We wait for the next available operator
after pressing a number of the language of our choice.It’s our natural inclination to hate
waiting.We acquired this early on
when even as babies, we hated waiting as evidenced by our 120 decibel cries
when the baby bottle was delayed.We’d muscle our way to the front of the line because we didn’t want to
wait our turns.It’s made manifest
in our day-to-day language in expressions like “I can’t wait”.

The three disciples weren’t made of stained
glass; they were men who shared the same weaknesses that seem to trip us up at
any turn.Waiting didn’t come any
easier to them.Nonetheless, Jesus
commanded them to wait.He didn’t
direct them to kill time while spoke with the Father.No, to wait in the garden was in a sense to abide with
Christ in the grove on that night.They had heard this before when Christ exhorted them and others to abide
in him, otherwise they would have no part with him or his Father’s coming
kingdom.The night would soon
become terrifying and there would be a strong temptation to scatter off into
the darkness.In this command,
they were exhorted to resist this temptation.

The three were commanded to watch.This wasn’t a mindless or inattentive
watching like one in the departure lounge, nor was it the casual watching of
the world while sipping an iced Americano at Starbucks.This was active and attentive
watching.It was in a real sense,
watching as if one’s very life depended on it.The three were called to watch like a storm spotter on a day
when conditions are ripe for tornadoes to spin into life.Tonight, Peter and the sons of Zebedee
were called to watch their Lord, watch out for one another, and watch
themselves.

This night would be a time for courage, and
the band of disciples would have to go into it girded in prayer, wide-eyed and
abiding in their Lord.Yet for all
of Christ’s clear words, they were overcome by the late hour and their big
meal.For this, they felt the
rebuke of their master who called them back to watchfulness.

What can we take from all of this?Like the Disciples, we also live in
interesting times.

They were mere hours from seeing the Father’s
redemptive plan for humanity unfold. They would hear Christ cry out “it is
finished” as the offense of sin was paid and the Father’s righteous anger was
quenched.Three days later, they
would witness the resurrection of the one whose visage was marred beyond
recognition.Forty days later
Christ would return to his throne at the right hand of the father.

Jesus demonstrated the power of obedient
waiting and watching.Through his
waiting and watching he was able to, as the writer of Hebrews stated, “For the joy set
before him he endured the cross, scorning its shame, and sat down at the right
hand of the throne of God.”

We live on the eve of Christ’s return.We don’t day or hour, but we do know
that it will come upon us suddenly.The events of that great and terrible day will be as transformative as
Good Friday.

In our day, we’re called to wait, watch and
pray.One beauty of Lent is that
it gives us focus and a time of self-examination.But how do we do these things, in a world that seem to be
completely contrary to the Kingdom of Heaven?In the words of one contemporary pastor, we “pray, pray,
pray, pray, pray”.As we ask, we
will receive.As we seek, we will
find.As we seek the Lord’s
empowerment, we’ll grow in this.St. Paul encourages us in that in and through Christ, we can do all
things.

Tonight in this watch, I’d invite us all to a moment of self-evaluation
and rededication to watching and waiting on our Lord.

About Me

Which Church Father are you?

You’re St. Melito of Sardis!

You have a great love of history and liturgy. You’re attached to the traditions of the ancients, yet you recognize that the old world — great as it was — is passing away. You are loyal to the customs of your family, though you do not hesitate to call family members to account for their sins.